Energy company Centrica Business Solutions has completed a long-term solar power purchase agreement (PPA) with aerospace defence manufacturer Moog.
The agreement sees Centrica lease roof space on Moog’s manufacturing site in Wolverhampton to install a 2,200 solar panel array capable of generating circa 1MW.
The energy company will also finance the project and has agreed on a PPA with Moog Inc. for the renewable electricity generated on-site.
Construction on the site is expected to be completed in Spring 2024, and the panels will provide Moog Inc. with an annual 800 MWh of renewable energy for the next 25 years, equating to approximately 10% of the site’s electricity demand.
Jean-Yves Cherruault, head of net zero pathways at Centrica Business Solutions, said: “The project with Moog Inc. represents the construction of one of our biggest rooftop solar arrays to date as we work to help the business move towards Net Zero.”
Hamish Ferguson, vice president, director of sustainability and ESG at Moog Inc., said: “Working with Centrica has enabled us to implement a solution that makes sense from both a carbon reduction and a finance perspective.
“It’s the first retrofit on an existing manufacturing plant of a solar array for Moog Inc. and we’re looking forward to implementing similar projects around the world to achieve our carbon reduction ambitions.”
Centrica’s UK patch
This solar-based PPA mirrors another agreement which Centrica entered in November 2023 with Smart Architectural Aluminium.
The deal followed the same parameters regarding financing the project, leasing the roof space and agreeing to a 25-year span of delivering on-site generated renewable energy.
Centrica had already started construction on the 2.94MW solar installation located on the rooftops of three buildings at the manufacturing site in Yatton, a village located to the southwest of Bristol.
The energy company aims to provide Smart Architectural Aluminium with 2.7GWh over the long-term period, meaning 20% of the site’s electricity requirements will be supplied by the new 7,000 solar panel array.
Preceding this PPA, Centrica opened its own first UK solar farm in Wiltshire with a capacity of 18MW without involvement from other firms.
The 18MW Codford Solar Farm has become the company’s first major solar asset in the UK, with power generation currently underway. This contributes to the company’s plan to extend its portfolio further into flexible energy assets, with eyes to 900MW of low-carbon assets by 2026.
The farm consists of 33,000 panels and should be capable of producing around 19GWh of green electricity per year.